Faulty water main breaks at dorm construction site

A water main on the construction site of the new dorm at D and Second streets broke late Monday morning, spraying thousands of gallons of water through the site.

“The water main … was shooting water halfway onto D Street and the entrance to the parking lot,” said Mike Paulinik, a project manager for Hanover Pacific LLC, the real estate development company involved in the planning of the dorm.

The water caused a small flood near the entrance to Lot D, making it hard for students and faculty to get to their cars.

“It was an inconvenience for about 15 minutes because there was so much water in the gutter people could not get across,” Paulinik said. “It was like a little river.”

At approximately 11:30 a.m., La Verne Public Works members arrived to shut off the water to the whole construction site.

“The city responded real fast, and we’re thankful this did not go on for that long,” Paulinik said.

The cause of the break was a faulty 90-degree water pipe entering the building.

“There is never a good time for a water main to break but it is better now than later,” said Jim Sleet, superintendent for KAR Construction, the firm responsible for the construction.

After the water was shut off, construction workers cleaned up the mess of mud and water.

“We are going to get everything cleaned up today, and make it look like nothing happened,” Sleet said.

No one was injured as a result of the broken pipe.

“We got a mild mess to clean up, and a faulty pipe that will be fixed today,” Paulinik said. “Things like this happen and thankfully it wasn’t a bigger problem than it was.”